DT 28364 – Big Dave's Crossword Blog
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DT 28364

by Kath  

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 28364

Hints and tips by Kath

+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +

BD Rating — Difficulty ** — Enjoyment ***/****

Hello everyone. It’s not a Ray T Thursday so those of you who don’t get along with him can relax – I’m not going to make any wild guesses as to who set today’s crossword as I’ve been wrong many times before. I didn’t think it was too difficult although there were a few that held me up at the end.

In the hints that follow the definitions are underlined and the answers are hidden under the bits that say ANSWER so only do that if you need to see them.

Please leave a comment telling us what you thought of the crossword and how you got on today.

Across

1a            Battle in street leading to goods impounded by law (8)
STRUGGLE — A two letter abbreviation for street followed by (leading to) a law or a regulation containing (impounded by) more than one abbreviation for G(ood).

5a            Clever group of diners disregarding time (4)
ABLE — A group of diners, or more precisely where they would sit, without its first letter.

9a            Musical success by star covering tango up to now (8)
HITHERTO — A general term for a musical success is followed by the star or main protagonist which contains the letter represented by the word ‘tango’ in the phonetic alphabet.

10a         Trouble in Belgium with alternative on the right (6)
BOTHER — The IVR code for Belgium and then an alternative or something different.

11a         Model train in state that’s healthy (8)
SANITARY — Another word for state or put into words contains (in) an anagram (model) of TRAIN.

12a         Agreement in a combination of notes, we hear (6)
ACCORD — The A from the clue is followed by a homophone (we hear) of a combination of notes played together.

14a         Make more efficient floundering men’s retail (10)
STREAMLINE — An anagram (floundering) of MEN’S RETAIL

18a         Solicit group of brothers for judicial direction? (5,5)
COURT ORDER — Another word for solicit or seek is followed by a group of brothers – the religious kind.

22a         Hear about the Italian bishop’s hat (6)
TRILBY — A verb to hear or pass judgement contains (about) the Italian word for the definite article and the one letter abbreviation for B(ishop).

23a         Expedient required for fleet facing difficulty (5,3)
QUICK FIX — Another word for fleet or speedy is followed by a second one meaning a difficulty or a tight spot.

24a         Where eight might be found as an unbroken sequence (2,1,3)
IN A ROW —  Eight here are people are in a boat – one of those that’s much easier to solve than it is to give a sensible hint for.

25a         In America, single, drunk, showing brutish quality (8)
UGLINESS — An angram (drunk) of SINGLE goes inside (in) the two letter abbreviation for the United States.

26a         Attack vehicle in reservoir (4)
TANK — A double definition – the first is a large military vehicle.

27a         Support the man clearly discontented in view of the future? (8)
PROPHECY — A word meaning support or hold up is followed by the masculine form of the third person pronoun and then the first and last letters of C(learl)Y (discontented or with its content removed).

 

Down

2d            One on board giving measure of programme’s success (6)
RATING — A double definition – a sailor and the number of people estimated to have watched or listened to a programme.

3d            Hotel in reach in poor quarter (6)
GHETTO — Split 3,2 you have a couple of words that mean reach or arrive at – the one letter abbreviation for H(otel) goes inside.

4d            A trite rule that’s spoiled written material (10)
LITERATURE — An anagram (that’s spoiled) of A TRITE RULE.

6d            Sack male in top disciplinary facility (4,4)
BOOT CAMP — The first word is a verb to sack or kick out and the second is one that means top or outdo which contains the abbreviation for M(ale).

7d            Greeting penned by a poet I fancy in African country (8)
ETHIOPIA — A two letter greeting is inside (penned by) an anagram (fancy) of A POET I.

8d            Device that could make mum more embarrassed (8)
SHREDDER — A two letter interjection that means ‘mum’ in the sense of ‘hush’ followed by the comparative form of the colour someone goes when embarrassed.

9d            Mess when accommodated in two hospitals (4)
HASH — A little short word for when or at the same time are contained in (accommodated in) the letters that stand for a H(ospital).

13d         Serve e.g. grub cooked using no animals ultimately — as this? (10)
VEGEBURGER — An anagram (cooked) of SERVE E.G. GRUB without the ‘S’ (using no animals ultimately ie the last letter of animals). I’m not sure I’ve ever written the answer before but I don’t think I’d have spelt it this way although it is in the BRB.

15d         Very critical about supporting son, and object (8)
SCATHING — One of the two letter latin abbreviations meaning about are preceded by (supporting) S(on) and then a word that means an object or article.

16d         Rejoicing in lab crazily interrupts project (8)
JUBILANT — An anagram (crazily) of IN LAB are contained in another word for project or protrude.

17d         Rigid objections raised and tolerated endlessly (8)
STUBBORN — A reversal (raised) of some objections, often used as ‘ifs and ****, and then another word for tolerated or put up with without its final letter (endlessly).

19d         Be economical, having munched crisp over minute (6)
SCRIMP — An anagram (munched) of CRISP contains (over) the abbreviation for M(inute).

20d         Decadent English fellows having summer in Paris (6)
EFFETE — The abbreviation for E(nglish) followed by two abbreviations for F(ellow) and then the French word for summer (summer in Paris).

21d         A big strike upset international alliance (4)
AXIS —The A from the clue is followed by a reversal (upset) of the number of runs scored in cricket when someone hits the ball very hard and a very long way (a big strike). Well, there had to be one, didn’t there?

I liked 24 and 27a and 7d. My favourite was 20d.

The Quickie pun:- SITTER + DELL = CITADEL

71 comments on “DT 28364”

  1. Good heavens, I seem to be first!

    Enjoyable puzzle, not too difficult. 2*/4* for me. 27a was my favourite.

  2. I thought this was 2*/4*. Not difficult but plenty to enjoy. I suspected a pangram after a few of the less common letters turned up but the Z remained elusive. Does that make it a penpangram?

    I had always viewed 6d as an Americanism, but my BRB says (slang, orig N Am) so I’ll let the setter off with this one.

    24a was my favourite with 22a & 27a hard on its heels.

    Many thanks to Shamus (?) and to Kath, especially for the early posting as I’m off out in a few minutes.

    1. I wonder if anyone has set a double-pangram, where all 26 letters are used at least twice each?

      1. Yes, I think Mr Kitty mentioned it a while ago, but I’m not sure how you would find his comment. Perhaps do a Google search on the site?

        1. Yes, found something. a double pangram? Let us know your …
          bigdave44.com/2015/09/29/dt-27919/

      2. I have a vague idea that someone did a triple pangram but I can’t remember who or when – not that long ago I think – I did say it was a bit vague.

        2. Was it one of the Saturday alternatives. IT was out of my league but the afficionados were beside themselves as
          I recall

      3. Maize’s debut puzzle in the Independent (19.11.2016) was a quadruple pangram no less, an absolute tour de force and well worth checking out.

        1. Wow! Many thanks Silvanus for the recommendation about Maize’s quadruple pangram. “Tour de force” is spot on! Having seen your comment I had to give it a go and I really enjoyed every moment from start to finish. It was nicely challenging throughout particularly with a couple of clues taking a while to parse.

          Maize, this was a truly remarkable puzzle. Many congratulations and thank you!

  3. Enjoyable enough, last in 21d (took a while to spot the cricket connection). And not one lurker today. Thanks to Kath and the setter.

  4. I thought this was very good, the best of the week so far for me. Not massively difficult, about average, but definitely enjoyable. 2.5*/3*.

  5. Was doing well with this one but got stuck on 8d and 18a…..note to self, mum has more than one meaning .
    Not sure why 18a foxed me, but it all became clear with the hint.

    21d had to be what it is, but I didn’t get the cricketing reference…but then I often don’t.

    Thanks to the setter and to Kath.

  6. I didnt recognise the style of this puzzle and took a while to get into it. I got stuck in the SE corner, not helped by putting Nato for 21d. Got 1a easy enough but needed Kath’s help to understand the cryptic. Favourites 27a & 13d. 3*/3* Many thanks to the setter and to Kath for the explanations.

  7. Thanks to Mr Ron and to Kath for the review and hints. A very enjoyable puzzle, a little tricky in places. Very entertaining. I completed 4 mini puzzles, NE, NW, ST, SE. Last in was 27a. I wondered if 26a could also have been a triple definition? Attack equals tank, as in give someone a good tanking. Favourite was 13d. Was 2 */4* for me.

  8. Top part went in quite easily but I slowed down in the lower reaches.
    Like Kath, I wouldn’t have spelled 13d like that – horrid sounding word either way!
    24a takes the honours in what was a pleasant solve.

    Thanks to Mr. Ron (not THE Mister Ron, I feel) and to Kath for a fun blog.

  9. Top half went in completely before I started on the bottom half. This was a 2*/4* puzzle for me, with a good balance of clue types. 8 and 21d were fun, but I think 27a was the COTD.

    Many thanks to the Thursday setter and of course to Kath.

  10. Very good – I needed the blog for a couple of my answers that I didn’t fully understand – I’m cleverer than I thought ( joke!).

    I’m just reading about the proposed changes to the Rules of Golf – I don’t think they really apply to hackers like me!

    1. M,
      Don’t you believe it. Stock up with balls now 3 mins to search isn’t long! Oh & buy shares in TitleIst.
      Seem fairly common sense, the one putting with the flagstick is perhaps the most radical (if true, will read on RandA website later).

      1. Anything to speed up the game – three minutes to look for your ball – they want to tell that to Societies who play once in a blue moon – they take so long to look for their balls you’d think they were playing with golden balls!

        1. Michael: tell that to half the players in the Saturday medal too. As a referee it is amazing even with players & caddies looking for a ball (and me) how many aren’t found after 5 minutes. So many players seem more intent on registering their disgust at the shot rather than follow the flight of the ball. Then they ask their fellow competitor “Did you you where that went?”. As for playing a provisional ball ….

          1. Wish they would do something about the ‘3 off the Tee’ rule for lost balls!😏

            1. Brian
              There were those who wanted a lost ball to be the same as the “estimate where the ball crossed the hazard” provision for ball lost in a Water Hazard (so stroke but not distance penalty) but it was not accepted. Not having provisional, no going back etc would have saved a lot of time.

  11. An enjoyable puzzle and a pleasant way to pass some time. Excellent blog from Kath as usual. I do like to see a lady in a hat so a good picture for 22ac. I did think of you once last one in 21d revealed itself. So thanks to the setter and to Kath.

  12. Another good puzzle in what so far has been a good week. Liked 9a but 15d my COTD.

    Thanks to setter & 1*K for explanations & humour.

    Michael commented on the ROG changes brought in to speed up the game mainly. Of course the R&A could just have increased the size of the hole – save all that faffing about lining up putts if the hole were 6″ diameter rather than 4.25″.

  13. Thought the puzzle was quite tricky to parse today and ‘struggled’ with the NW corner. fine once I got under way and so a 2.5/4* for me.
    Lots of excellent charades, which I like, for example 9a and 22a ( which always brings Svengali to mind )
    Thanks setter and Kath for the blog picks.

  14. Reasonably straightforward once I got going – **/***. For some reason, I am finding more and more that ‘I get going’ by working the ‘Downs’ from the bottom up.

    With Kath on duty today, I will have to be really careful on selection of a one favourite which is 18a.

    Thanks to the setter and Kath.

  15. Many thanks Kath – I enjoyed this, managing to do it neatly in clockwise order. I liked 13d when I twigged, and 21d took me too long. Plenty of nice clues, so thank you setter.

    There is also the lovely Arachne in the Guardian today

  16. Difficult today particularly the top left corner. Worked out most of the clues but couldn’t always bring up a word.

    3. Hello and welcome from me too.
      I think that what made today’s feel a bit tricky was probably the rather unfriendly grid – something I never noticed until I started doing some hints.

  17. Good fun although I approached it with a touch of trepidation with regard to the grid. However, there was nothing to send the nags racing off to the hills as it pretty well gave up it’s secrets without too much of a tussle. My ‘pangram’ radar was also twitching after 23a & 16d were solved, but no ‘z’ appeared. I have noticed recently that the use of plurals (news – nn, goods – gg etc) seem to be the flavour of the month for a lot of setters.

    I will opt for 2d as my favourite purely for the Naval connection. Not the attachment to one’s mother I hasten to add :whistle:

    Thanks to our mystery setter for the enjoyment (is there an unused ‘ath’ hanging on a peg somewhere?) and to Kath for a splendid blog.

    1. BTW, forgot to say – I’ll see you all tomorrow as I am in the blogging chair in lieu of DT. Unfortunately it will be a ‘one handed’ typing job as I have had an ‘Indiana Jones, Raiders of the Lost Ark’ moment with a hot sauté pan handle. I am available for ‘Analon’ cookware advertising :cry:

  18. I found this one a stiffer test than a good many have recently, so it was good to get the old grey matter working. Too many good clues to pick a favourite, but I did like 1 across, which was my last to yield. Thanks as always to one and all.

  19. An inoffensive grid in every manner with nothing longer than a ten-letter word. I’d go for **/**. Four mini crosswords really as Heno said. Thanks Kath for the blog. I was wondering who that pretty lass is with the hat – someone in the talking-pictues maybe?

  20. Found this very very hard indeed. For me a ****/*.
    Just could not get on the setters wavelength at all. Needed a lot of electronic help and the hints to finish this one. Just one of those days I suppose.
    Thx for the much needed hints.

  21. I found this one tough, in fact, I couldn’t get three. I kept thinking “boys home” but knew it couldn’t be right, so that was a blank. I also failed on 10a and 12a, that fixation on 6d really messed them up.
    I needed the hints to know why my 25a was correct, that was my stupidness, and I have never seen 13d spelt like that. Really?
    I really liked 18a and 24a, but fave has to be 27a.
    Thanks to setter, good puzzle, and to Kath for helping me to finish.

    1. Hi Merusa,
      13d as as the Big Red Bible says with vegie-burger as alternative. I wanted to put vegiburger that’s why I checked. To me it’s an oxymoron anyway however it is spelt.

      1. I got it only because I knew it was an anagram and I had all the checking letters, so I bunged it in!

  22. The fourth excellent puzzle this week, which again goes to prove it doesn’t need to be challenging to be extremely enjoyable. Like SL, I was initially suspicious of the grid’s corners, but any fears were soon dispelled.

    The clues were of a high standard I thought, and I ticked five – 1a, 9a, 18a, 25a and 8d.

    Many thanks to today’s setter and to Kath.

  23. A fairly straightforward crossword me thinks. No real problems; 18a was COTD and overall 2/3.5*.
    Thanks to the setter, and thanks to Kath for her ace review.

  24. Very enjoyable , I liked all the clues in the lower left corner.
    Thanks to Kath for a very picturesque blog and also to the setter.

  25. When we started we were a bit suspicious about the grid that has 4 clues with only 3 of 8 letters checked and two of these starting with double unches. However they turned out to be no problem at all and the whole puzzle went together very easily for us. The style of the puzzle suggested Shamus as the setter to us although we usually find his a little trickier than this one. Like yesterday’s puzzle, plenty to keep us smiling here.
    Thanks Mr Ron (Shamus) and Kath.
    Ps Kath you seem to have used ‘click here’ instead of ‘underline’ with clue for 26a.

    1. Yes – don’t know how that happened with 26a – I spotted it very early on but no-one else seems to have done – either that or they’re all too kind or too polite to mention it – not that you two aren’t both, of course!
      I did think about editing it but decided not to push my luck and risk blowing the whole place up.

      1. I thought since MP has shanghai-ed the “K theme” you were adopting the “deliberate mistake” tactic in retaliation.

  26. Pleasant enough but nothing to write home about. Thought 13d was a bit contrived. Was chasing the wrong mum for 8d i.e. using ma. Failed to parse 1a. Thank you Mysteron and Kath.

  28. Found this tougher than the last few days, 24a is probably my favorite. Thank you Kath for the hints. I was really mired down with 11a, 27a and 16d until I read them. Had forgotten French word for summer, so although I had inked in 20d wasn’t sure if I was right until I read the hint.

  29. Well, it took a good while to get started – my first one in was near the bottom of the (oddly shaped and solver unfriendly) grid, but from then on steady progress was made. About ** for difficulty sounds right.

  30. I’m delighted to say I have no experience of 13d, and had to resort to a hint. I suppose 2*/3* is about right, and I quite liked 8d. Thanks to the setter, and Kath for the review.

  31. Thanks to Kath for her splendid blog and everyone for comments. Happy St David’s Day +1 to all!

    1. Shamus,
      Thank you for a pleasurable start to the day, as always. Have pity on Kath et al with the cricket though!

    2. Thanks for popping in, Shamus. I’d definitely decided it wasn’t set by Samuel in one of his guises, but wasn’t sufficiently certain to attribute it to our leprechaun!

    3. Thanks for the workout today. Alas, I couldn’t finish because I committed the worst cryptic puzzle offence, no lateral thinking and fixation on one answer.

      1. There’s a cure for that Merusa – stop trying, leave it for about 15 minutes and have a cup of whatever takes your fancy. When you return all will be clear :)

  32. Did 80% of this Lynn in bed but had to come back after walking the dogs and before the rain hit. Enjoyable and not too taxing. Favourite was 13d. Thanks to Kath and the setter.

  33. Is the setter one of the dogs you walked? And is Lynn Mrs Vancouverbc? 😜 You’ll be delighted to know that Tuesday’s round of golf involved playing the 3rd in horizontal driving snow coming straight at us. Rain? Pah!

  34. I thought of Shamus for this, but as usual, he’s fessed up before I get to comment, so no kudos for me there. I enjoyed the challenge despite the double unches, although I 1 acrossed with 1 across, which added a time star. Thanks go to Shamus and the inimitable Kath. 2*/3*
    BTW I have never seen 13d spelled any other way than here, and I have a vegetarian daughter of more than 20 years’ standing and have bought them all over the place.
    PS All this golf talk is saddening as I have been kept off the course and the range for a year now with physical disability that shows little sign of disappearing any time soon, despite the best effors of Big Pharma.(And I never bother looking for lost balls anyway. Life’s too short.) it’s almost as bad as not being able to drink.

    1. I had to give up playing nearly 20 years ago with an incurable problem TS so have kept involved by trying to help keep the game alive by organising coaching, competitions etc. I hope your problem isn’t as chronic as mine.
      Unfortunately the medication meant the alcohol went too. That helped with weight etc so have never gone back.

      1. I feel for you guys, I love golf almost as much as football.
        Last monthly Stableford of the winter tomorrow.

  35. Bottom more difficult than top.
    Finished this morning due to trip to theatre last night.
    Thanks to Shamus and Kath
    PS, I dislike double-unches almost as much as Crystal Palace and the Daily Mail

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